And Soon It Begins
by Broken N Bleeding
Summary: Starting with a surprise, and hopefully promising, twist in the very short introduction, this tale will weave into the underbelly of human trafficking and the sex trade. Will justice be found?
1. Introduction - It Continues

Introduction – It continues

There were flashes of bright, white fluorescent lights going past him. He had a difficult time trying to discern what was going on. His head hurt. His chest burned and throbbed; it was as if his heart were going to explode.

"Michael," he heard someone call to him. "Michael, can you hear me?" There was an accent and Michael shook his head around trying to come to.

"Michael, I am Doctor Rodriquez," came the heavily accented voice again. "Do you know where you are? Do you know what happened to you?"

"I…" Michael struggled to think. "Uh… I…"

"It's okay, Michael. Get some sleep and I will check on your later."

Slowly, those bright lights disappeared.

* * *

"I'm sorry."

"Michael! No!" Stephanie screamed.

Suddenly his back and chest burned. There was an echo of a loud sound he had not initially heard as he fell to the ground, and closed his eyes. No regrets.

* * *

Michael opened his eyes slowly. He threw his arm over his face to block out the brightness of the light. He breathed in deeply and began to look around the room. His head and chest still ached. He didn't want to move, but tried to sit up anyway. He collapsed back down onto the bed.

"Sr. Lamont," came a woman's voice with a similar accent to the voice he heard earlier. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Where am I?" he asked, focusing in on a tall, haired woman in scrubs.

"You are in El Hospital Británico, Sr. You are in Buenos Aires. Do you know how you got here?"

Michael thought for a moment. Suddenly his last memory flooded into his head.

"Oh my God! Stephanie! No, I left her!"

"She is okay! She is here!" the nurse excited exclaimed.

Michael looked past the nurse and saw Stephanie standing in the threshold.

"Hello, Michael."


	2. Chapter 1 - The Debriefing

Chapter 1 – The Debriefing

"Thank you, Dr. Rodriquez. I really appreciate it," Michael said shaking the doctor's hand.

"Sure, Michael. I am glad to see you back on your feet. You go home and rest."

Michael nodded. "Rest. Right." An orderly wheeled him out of the hospital in a wheelchair where he was greeted by Stephanie in his car. As he recovered in the hospital, they had already arranged for her to go get his vehicle and use it while he was there.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" she asked as he climbed into the passenger seat. Michael looked pretty rough but that wasn't surprising considering what he had just survived. His face was covered in a decent beard now since he'd been in the hospital for a while. The bullet had punched through his lung, nearly hitting his heart. Thankfully, it hadn't.

"Like I've been shot." Michael had a hard time facing Stephanie. Finally, after a few moments of silence he said, "Stephanie, I'm really very sorry."

"For what?"

"About Ellie and for thinking it was okay to trade you like that."

Stephanie smiled and shook her head. "Michael, it's okay. You were desperate to find Camila. Quite frankly, so am I."

Michael looked at her confused. "You are?"

"Ellie was murdered. I found out first hand that sex trafficking is real." She shook her head. "It isn't right and now I can't walk away from it."

They pulled into a hotel where Stephanie had rented a room with two beds. She helped Michael in and pulled out some new clothes for him.

"I got these for you. Get dressed. We have a lot to do."

Michael grabbed the clothes and went into the bathroom to freshen up and change, but he left the door cracked open so he could talk to Stephanie.

"I'm really glad you were able to get away from Calvo. You're an amazing woman. I can't even begin imagine what you went through and what you did to survive it." He started brushing his teeth.

"Yeah, well," she paused. "It's given me the opportunity to help raise awareness about sex trafficking and slavery. I'm determined to help put an end to it. Then Ellie's death would mean something. Her life was not a waste and I refuse to let her death be a waste."

"That's incredible. Not everyone would be able to endure what you did and run right back to it."

"At first I was angry. I wanted to kill anyone involved just like I had Calvo."

"Yeah, I'm glad the world is less one Calvo," Michael said before splashing water on his face to wash away the toothpaste.

"No kidding. But it wouldn't have been the same," Stephanie said as she pulled out a file box and began laying documents and pictures out on the desk.

"Same what?" he asked muffled by the towel as he patted his face dry.

"It would have been revenge, not self-defense. And revenge doesn't serve a purpose."

"I'm not sure I agree with you there." He sounded a bit funny with that remark. Stephanie could tell he was shaving based on the running water, the funny way his mouth must have been shaped while speaking and shaving at the same time. *Tap, tap, tap* went the razor on the edge of the sink.

"No, it really doesn't. They have a couple of people now in custody. They are trying to get them to talk about the operation, but they are not being very chatty. Inspector Villalobos, do you remember meeting her at the hospital?"

"Vaguely. I was pretty out of it."

"She has been after that town we were in for a year now."

"Wait. So the entire town was in on it?" Michael was suddenly overcome with disgust as he realized he had been living among the people that had something to do with Camila's kidnapping, and he was clueless.

"Most of them, sadly, yes. Rosamaria was in on the trafficking operation but didn't want Ellie or I taken for it. It wasn't compassion; it was the risks associated with kidnapping an American. Just like you said."

"So I was basically paying rent to a woman that may very well have been instrumental in kidnapping Camila?"

"I don't think she was directly involved in Camila's kidnapping. Camila was latina but still an American. She doesn't like Americans solely because of the risks involved in taking one."

Michael emerged from the bathroom with the new pants on and the shirt slung over his shoulder.

Stephanie nodded and said, "You look more like you now."

"Thanks. I just wish I could feel more like myself. I've been stuck in this current state of not knowing and endless searching for months now. It's exhausting." He sat on the edge of the bed and tossed the shirt behind him. Stephanie saw the scars on his back and chest where the bullet had gone through him. They cut through his muscle tone and were surrounded by bruises and swelling. The stitches cut through his smooth skin like a barbed wire. She felt so bad for him.

His toes played with the carpet under his feet as he stared off into space for a moment.

"God, I miss her," he said in a quivering voice. His green eyes began to glisten as tears welled up. The tears began to fall, making their way down his face and falling into his lap.

Stephanie sat next to him on the bed and put her arms around him. They just sat there for a moment until Michael moved and wiped the tears from his face. Stephanie walked over the table and picked up a couple of files.

"What's that?" Michael asked.

"Because Ellie and I, and Camila, were Americans, the consulate has brought in the FBI to work with Inspector Villalobos. I guess to represent us politically speaking. These files are what I know of Camila and everything about Ellie I have."

"Great," Michael said snapping out of his momentary depression. "Politics. That's exactly what Camila needs."

"We're going to meet him and the inspector as soon as you are dressed."

With that, Michael finished getting dressed.

* * *

Michael and Ellie sat across the table from Inspector Villalobos and FBI Special Agent Jackson Rhodes. Basically, this is what everyone knows so far.

Chucho was one of the town's many "marcadores" or markers. He would spot a girl to take and send a photograph to the "reclutadores" or recruiters, like Calvo was. Then, depending on the victim and their interaction with a marker, they would either trick a girl into coming with them or flat out kidnap her, like had been done with Ellie and likely Camila. From there they would be sold to the "proxenetas" (pimps). Some would then sell the girls over to "regentes" or managers and madams of brothels. One girl could potentially earn a pimp or brothel up to $16,000 per year per woman or girl they exploit.

The goal for finding Camila was to try and find the pimp. No one was saying much so, they were planning a sweep of the town to try and get people to start talking. With Chucho and Calvo dead, their business had taken a hit and Inspector Villalobos had no idea if there was another recruiter there or not. Surely the pimps and brothels would not be wanting to continue business there for a while, at least not until the heat died down some. So if there was anyone that wasn't part of it but too scared to say anything to stop it, then this might be the opportune time for them to say their peace.

Rosamarie was a marker, like Chucho, but after what happened with Stephanie and Ellie, she vanished. Finding her for the sake of having more chances for intel was a high priorty.

"What about that guy… Luca?" Ellie asked. "He was kind of a creepy looking guy and I just got a weird feeling about him."

"I don't know what his role was if he had a role," Inspector Villalobos replied. "Remember, while the town was in on it, not all of the people were."

"So what are we supposed to do in the meantime?" Michael broke in. "Just sit and wait, like Calvo wanted us to?"

"No," replied Special Agent Rhodes. "We would like for the two of you, if you are willing, to go back to the town. You can tell us who you saw, what they were doing, how they behaved… There is information I need to create some profiles of the people we are looking for. I also will need to sit with each of you individually after the sweep and find out more about Ellie and Camila."

Michael and Stephanie looked at each other and then back at Villalobos and Rhodes.

"Yes," Stephanie said the same time Michael replied, "Of course."

"Good," said Inspector Villalobos. "Get some rest tonight. Meet back here at 8 a.m. and we will fly out to the town together. We already have hotel rooms in a bigger town close by."

The four stood up and exchanged hand shakes.

"Thank you," Michael said.

"Claro," replied Villalobos.

"No, I don't think you understand. Because I didn't know Calvo was behind the trafficking, I was searching for Camila on my own; with no help at all." He looked away for a moment and then back at Villalobos and Rhodes. "It's nice to finally have some real help. I just pray that she is at least still alive."

"Chances of that are good. I know this sounds bad," Rhodes said, "but they don't want to miss out on that $16,000 a year paycheck. It would not suit them to kill her."

_Yes, it sounds bad_, Michael thought to himself. However, Rhodes was right. It at least could give him some hope that she's still alive.

* * *

Back in the hotel room, Michael looked at everything Stephanie had left out on the desk. Maps of the town and of the region they were in. Maps of where she escaped in Paraguay. Papers and forms in Spanish. The missing person poster Michael had made and plastered all over the area when Camila went missing. A list of names and titles:

Chucho = marker

Rosamarie = marker

Calvo = recruiter

Luca = ?

? = pimp

"Looks like you've been doing your own searching," Michael said.

"Yup. I just couldn't walk away. I don't want Camila to suffer Ellie's fate and I want to blow this case wide open and free those girls."

Michael nodded.

"I'm going to shower," Stephanie said. "It's late and we both should get to sleep."

"Yeah."


	3. Chapter 2 - Luca

Chapter 2 – Luca

Michael and Stephanie walked through the town slowly. Rhodes and Villalobos were already starting to talk to anyone on the street. The town was very quiet now. People were not out sweeping porches, tending gardens, or selling trinkets in the open market.

"I feel so strange being back here," Stephanie said. She felt a chill rise from within and she shivered against it. She crossed her arms around herself and rubbed her arms to fight off the goose bumps.

"Yeah," Michael replied. "I get that disgusting feeling in the pit of my stomach too." He looked down the road toward the Hotel Rosamaria. "Rosamaria," Michael said with his teeth gritted shut. "I can't believe that she knew the whole time. I can't believe that any of these people knew."

"I'm so sorry, Michael."

"For months – MONTHS – I was in and out of this town and through other towns." He paused and shook his head. "I can't even…" Michael was at a loss for words and Stephanie grabbed his hand.

"It's okay," she said.

Special Agent Rhodes jogged to catch up with them. "Anything?"

They all stopped and Stephanie began to point places out.

"Over there is where I first asked a woman where the Hotel Rosamaria was. She said an awful lot but my Spanish is terrible so I have no idea what she said. And then over there is where a woman ran into the building to hide from me as I was asking her if she had seen Ellie."

"And that," Michael said pointing down another path off the main road, "is the bar where Chucho probably first saw Stephanie and Ellie."

"You were there that night, correct, Michael?" Rhodes asked and taking notes as they talked.

He nodded and replied, "Yes. I had a hunch that the bar tender had seen Camila. We almost got into it."

"What gave you that hunch?"

He shrugged a bit. "I saw him at the open air market earlier that day and he was laughing at the missing person flyer I had put up a couple days ago. I know that's not hard evidence but I'm not a cop."

"Why didn't you think to call the PFA?" Rhodes asked.

"Because one police department had already let me down. I wasn't wasting time on another."

"I am very sorry, Michael," Inspector Villalobos broke in as she rejoined the group. "People trust the police and when they are corrupt, it shakes the foundations of trust that the rest of us try to keep with the people."

"Why is there so much corruption out here?" Stephanie asked Villalobos. "This entire town? The authorities?"

"Stephanie, I hate to break this to you, but corruption is everywhere in the world and your country is no exception. Even in America there is human trafficking. I can only fight what I know – what is in front of me."

Stephanie nodded and kicked the dirt at her feet.

Michael started walking toward the Hotel Rosamaria again. "You fight. I'll keep looking for Camila." The others followed and Stephanie jogged to catch up with Michael.

They arrived at the hotel that Michael had been staying in for a couple of days before Stephanie and Ellie had arrived: Hotel Rosamaria. Luca was standing behind the counter and when he looked up and saw Michael enter the room, he gasped and started to run.

"Dejas de ahí! Usted no se va a ninguna parte, mi amigo." Villalobos had her gun trained on Luca and he stopped dead in his tracks with his hands slightly raised.

Stephanie and Michael had stepped out of the way and Rhodes had also pulled out his gun.

"Dime," Villalobos said to Luca. "¿Qué está pasando aquí?"

Luca just stood there for a moment, like he was trying to decide what to do. Suddenly, from behind the counter, Rosamaria appeared from the back room.

"Rosa, corre!" Luca shouted.

Rosamaria looked up and before Rhodes and Villalobos could make a move toward her she ran right back into the back room.

"I got her!" Rhodes called as he ran out the building and around to the back.

"Okay, that's it!" Villalobos whipped out her handcuffs and restrained Luca.

"How does it feel, Luca," Stephanie asked looking him dead in the eyes. "How does it feel to know you are trapped? How does it feel to not know what is going to happen to you?"

Luca didn't speak English, but he understood it. He just dropped his head, eyes looking at the ground.

"Where's Agent Rhodes?" Michael asked as he walked outside. "Rhodes!" he called out for him.

"Agent Rhodes!" Stephanie followed suit. Nothing.

"Villalobos emerged from the building with Luca in cuffs. "Okay, you two. Follow me back to the cars. Now. Vamos!"

They quickly made their way back to the cars and she put Luca in the back of her car. Michael and Stephanie jumped into their car and took off back down the street toward the hotel.

"Aye! Come back here!" Villalobos jumped into the car and chased after them. "Ayude me Dios!"

"Esos dos son problemas," Luca said. "Usted debe dejar que se vayan."

"Silencio!" Villalobos commanded.

Just as Michael drove around toward the back of the hotel, Rhodes appeared right in front of him.

"Shit!" Michael shouted as he slammed on the brakes, sliding in the dust. He swerved and just barely missed hitting Rhodes.

"Aye!" Villalobos exclaimed as she stopped and slid in the opposite direction.

Rhodes fell to his knees and was nearly breathless after the two near misses but also had blood streaming down his face.

"Rhodes!" Michael called to him as he and Stephanie and Villalobos got out of the vehicles to run to his aid.

"Oh my God, Agent Rhodes! Are you okay?" Stephanie asked as she and Michael grabbed his arms and helped him up.

"Yes," he said, his chest heaving as he breathed deeply. "I chased her to that railroad bridge and she hit me with something. I fell. She kept running and I couldn't go after her."

Villalobos asked, "Are you sure you are okay?" He nodded. "Okay, let's get out of here. With Rosamaria gone and knowing we are here, it's not safe. Let's go. You two to the hotel while Special Agent Rhodes and I take care of some business with Sr. Luca here."

Rhodes got into Villalobos's car and Michael and Stephanie returned to his car. They drove the half hour drive to San Cosme. Michael and Stephanie went to the Cabaña Iarita hotel and checked into their room. It was only 4 p.m. and they had hoped to gain more ground.

"This sucks," Stephanie said as she plopped down on the bed. "What do you want to do? Do you want to go back out there?"

Michael shrugged and shook his head. "I'm not sure. The inspector is right. Rosamaria has surely raised the alarms by now. We'd be shot on sight before we even knew we were spotted." Michael collapsed on his bed and rubbed his chest where the exit wound was, then tried to reach the entrance wound on his back.

"You okay?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah, it just still hurts and the stitches itch."

"Let me check it out."

Michael sat up and took his shirt off. Stephanie sat behind him on her knees and carefully peeled the tape and gauze back to reveal the entrance wound. It looked okay. Bruised and swollen like the day before.

"This one looks okay. No signs of any infection trying to set in. Lay back so I can look at the exit wound," she said as she moved aside so he could lay back.

Michael laid back and put his right arm behind his head and his left arm out across the bed. Sitting on his left side, Stephanie leaned over and pulled the dressing off the exit wound.

"Damn," she whispered.

"Something wrong with it?"

"Well, no sign of an infection but, damn. It's so much bigger than the other one."

"Yeah, that's the nature of a bullet. It explodes on impact so the entrance wound is smaller than where ever it exits from." His eyes started to close. "Pain pills are making me sleepy."

"You want anything to eat? I may go out and get something if you want to nap."

"Mm," Michael grunted as he drifted off to sleep.

Stephanie grabbed her purse and the car keys. She looked back at Michael. _Poor guy_, she thought. _I hope we find Camila_. Then she blushed at the fact that she was staring at him in a way that she shouldn't be because he loves another. A hot rush shot through her body as guilt tried to settle into her gut. She shook her head and went over to him. She carefully pulled his shoes off and then got the blanket from her bed and covered him. She turned the lights out in the room, and left.

* * *

Flashes shot through, memories. Camila laughing. Camila building a porch. Camila feeding a procession of poverty stricken people. They danced. They kissed. That was it.

* * *

A hard knock at the hotel room door startled Michael awake. He looked around in the dark, trying to remember where he was and what he was doing. The fog from the pain pills wouldn't let him clear his head. The banging started up again at the door.

"What?!" he shouted out.

The banging came again.

"Who's there? Quiénestá ahí?" he asked.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

_Why is it so dark?_ he thought. Something wasn't right. It was shortly after 4 p.m. when he went to sleep and Stephanie left. _Stephanie!_ he remembered. _Where is she?_ He looked at the clock and it was 8 p.m.

Suddenly the door was kicked in and Michael found himself staring down the barrel of a gun.

A strange, accented voice said, "Adios, Michael."

POW!

* * *

Michael sat straight up in bed, breathing so heavily that his wounds, internal and external, burned.

"Owe!" he exclaimed. The pain brought him back to the reality that he had only been dreaming. He looked around the room and sunlight was still peaking around the edges of the blackout curtains. He looked at the clock: 5:15 p.m. "Damn it." He slowly swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. As he made his way to the bathroom, he finished undressing, not really watching to wear his clothes were landing.

Michael sat on the edge of the claw foot tub and ran the water to start filling it for a bath. As it filled with hot water, he slowly slid in, allowing all the stress in his body to flow into the water. He let out a deep breath as he came to a rest in the tub. He recalled the happier times and those memories of Camila flooded his head again. He remembered the night before she disappeared they were bathing together in a tub almost just like the one he was in now. He remembered how the warm water enveloped them both as he held her, kiss her. He washed her hair and her back. He smiled at remembering that night. He hadn't thought about that night in a while. He had gotten so wrapped up in trying to find her, he hadn't made time to remember the finer times.

He was so tired. For months he had searched almost all of the Argentine-Paraguayan border lands. He came close when Stephanie realized Calvo was the kidnapper, but he messed up. He should not have even considered trading Stephanie.

"I should have shot Chucho and beat the hell out of Calvo until I got Camila back," he said aloud in frustration, tears filling those green eyes again.

"What's that?" Stephanie called back to him as she came back into the hotel room.

Michael was startled for a brief moment but relaxed when he figured out that it was just Stephanie returning from where ever she was.

"Nothing," he replied.

"Are you always this sloppy?"

"Huh?"

"You tossed your clothes all over the room and my bed."

"Oh," he said. "Sorry, I'm still kind of druggy. I wasn't really paying attention. I had a terrible nightmare."

"Want to talk about it?"

Michael let out a deep sigh. "Nope."

"Okay." Stephanie stepped near the bathroom door and placed her hand on it, then lightly pressed her face against it. "I was at the police station. I have news."

"I'm coming out."

Stephanie could hear the water splashing around as he was clearly getting out of the tub. She couldn't help but let her mind wander a bit. That pang of guilt rose again so she walked away from the bathroom and pulled out the new files she had copied at the station. Michael emerged with a towel wrapped low around his hips. This caught Stephanie completely off guard and before she knew what she was doing, Michael looked up and caught her staring at him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think to bring any clothes into the bathroom with me."

"Oh God, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stare; you just caught me off guard."

"What do you have there?" he asked as he picked up his suitcase and threw it on the bed to get some clean clothes to put on.

"Unlike the others, Luca is talking. Come to find out, the operation had been threatening his family for years to keep him compliant. The provincial police have gone to collect his wife and kids to keep them safe. So long as they can't get to his family, he's willing to talk."

"Makes you wonder how many other people were 'compliant' just to keep their own safe."

"I guess. But this is what I wanted to show you," she said as she walked right up next to him.

"That's him," she said handing Michael a photo a grey-haired and bearded man.

"Him who?"

"The pimp Calvo tried to sell me to. He ran off when I fought back, but I recognize him. I'll never forget that face. His name is Arlo Cruz."

"This is who took Camila from Calvo and Chucho?"

"Well," she picked up another paper with a list of names and places, "here are some other possibilities." Stephanie handed the paper to Michael and he sat on the corner of the bed. She sat next to him.

Michael shook his head and said, "I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around all of this."

"I know. Me too." She caught look again at his exit wound. It was very swollen still and the bruising was starting to change colors, a good sign of its healing. "Do you want me to bandage those up before you get dressed?"

"If you could get the entrance wound on my back, I'd be grateful. I can get the other one."

"Sure," she said as she pulled the gauze and tape out of his suitcase. She knelt down behind him again and put the fresh dressing on.

Michael got up after she was done with his clothes and the gauze and tape, and he headed into the bathroom.

"Thanks," he said.

"Sure."

"How's Rhodes by the way?" he asked as he dressed behind the closed door.

"Jackson is okay. He has a slight concussion but he's fine."

"Jackson, eh? No more 'Special Agent Rhodes' for you?"

"Ha, ha," she replied sarcastically. "It's not like that."

"Uh huh," he said emerging from the bathroom with a slight grin on his face. "I'm hungry. Let's go eat."

"Sounds good to me."


End file.
